USS Essex was designed by the North American shipbuilder Donald McKay. McKay is widely recognized as the premier shipwright and designer in 19th Century America. His fast clipper ships broke all speed records during the mid 19th Century and his ship Flying Cloud held the speed record from New York to San Francisco around Cape Horn from 1851-1989. USS Essex was the last ship McKay designed and constructed. Her keel was laid in 1874 and she was launched in 1876 as one of the last class of wooden-hulled American Naval vessels and one of the last out-fitted with auxiliary sails. USS Essex worked around the world as a US Navy Sloop of War and then as a training vessel in the Atlantic and the Great Lakes. She ended her long service in Duluth, Minnesota. The USS Essex wreck is the only US Navy wreck in the State of Minnesota and is the only example of McKay's craftsmanship known to survive.

This sixty-first log book of USS Essex contains much interesting information about the daily workings of the ship from January 3, 1918 to December 31, 1918. The log lists the names of officers and crew attached to the US Naval Reserve Forces and the US Navy. Also documented were US Navy vessels and other boats encountered in the course of the working day, including training cruises and gun practice. Many entries deal with the on-loading of food supplies and armaments. One notable event was an on-board visit by US Vice President Thomas Marshall on July 27, 1918. During this time period, she was stationed on Lake Erie in Erie, Pennsylvania and on Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois.

Sixty-two of Essex's log books are known and Maritime Heritage Minnesota received Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants – part of the Legacy Amendment - to digitize, edit, and transcribe these books. This is a transcription of the original type-written version of log book #61, digitized and edited by Ann Merriman and Christopher Olson. The original type-written version is available on the Internet Archive as well.

In Copyright. This work is copyrighted to Ann Merriman, Christopher Olson, and Maritime Heritage Minnesota. It cannot be duplicated, altered, or hosted online by an unauthorized third party. It cannot be sold for a profit or used to make a profit by any unauthorized third party and no commercial use is allowed. It can be used as a scholarly resource with proper citation to Ann Merriman, Christopher Olson, and Maritime Heritage Minnesota.

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